Saturday, August 16, 2008

Practicing Security in Hard Economic Times

Some interesting turns of events in the financial markets lately. This will have a lasting affect on companies big and small for the next few years. So how does that affect security?
"Ease of business vs Security". This is the typical trade-off security practitioners and businesses need to make. Arguably when times are rough financially that dictates a serious of actions by the business which includes a bigger magnifying glass on expenditures in order to control money flow. Depending on the level of pressure exerted on the company a higher degree of reactivity vs proactivity will occur as business works on meeting the needs of today vs long term. Did I mention I'm not an economist?
A few points:

The economy has changed how security shops will do business for the near term. This should be obvious but that doesn't mean we won't learn it the hard way.

Expect to think more short term as opposed to long term. (But not at the expense of the long term).

Invest in raising security levels in the existing infrastructure as opposed to add-on solutions.

Business changes rapidly during sporatic times. Be on your toes and slow your capital initiatives. Make sure you're ready to react when the business needs you. This will show that you're not a waste of money or time and, indeed, understand business.

Thoughts are still hazy on this for me, but I feel those will clear up as time goes on.